The COVID-19 vaccines are on track for a big recipe change this fall.

Today’s vaccines still contain the original coronavirus strain, the one that started the pandemic — even though that was long ago supplanted by mutated versions as the virus rapidly evolves.

On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration’s scientific advisers said the next round of shots in the U.S. should only include protection against the newest variants that are now dominant worldwide — a branch of the omicron family tree named XBB.

The FDA will make the final decision. Vaccine makers said during the meeting that they could have updated vaccines available within months, depending on the strain.

While infections have declined, the virus could be a real concern next winter, FDA’s vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said as the daylong meeting began.

“We’re concerned that we may have another wave of COVID-19 during a time when the virus has further evolved, immunity of the population has waned further, and we move indoors for wintertime,” he said.

The FDA had told Americans to expect an updated fall vaccine against COVID-19, just like they get a new flu shot every fall. Even though most of the population has either been infected or had at least one round of vaccinations, the coronavirus keeps churning out new varieties.

What’s in use in the U.S. now are combination shots from Pfizer and Moderna that mix the original strain with protection against last year’s most common omicron variants, called BA.4 and BA.5. But just 17% of Americans rolled up their sleeves for a combo booster.

And while the FDA did allow seniors and others at high risk to get an extra booster dose this spring, most people will be many months beyond their last shot by fall.

The FDA advisory panel agreed that the fall shot should target just XBB variants. The World Health Organization’s vaccine advisers and European regulators recently made similar recommendations

Airman indicted over docs: The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking highly classified military documents has been indicted on federal felony charges, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Jack Teixeira faces six counts in the indictment of willful retention and transmission of national defense information.

He was arrested in April on charges of sharing highly classified military documents about Russia’s war in Ukraine and other top national security issues in a chat room on Discord, a social media platform for gamers. The stunning breach exposed to the world unvarnished secret assessments of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the capabilities and geopolitical interests of other nations and other national security issues.

A judge last month ordered him to remain jailed as he awaits trial, saying that releasing Teixeira would pose a risk that he would attempt to flee the country or obstruct justice.

His family has expressed support for him, and his lawyers had pressed the judge to release him to his father, saying he has no criminal history.

Pope Francis’ health: Pope Francis will be discharged from the hospital Friday, according to the Vatican, nine days after the 86-year-old pontiff underwent abdominal surgery for a hernia, an unexpected operation that raised concerns about his health.

The Vatican described his recovery from the surgery as “regular,” and photographs it released showed the pope appearing in good health at the hospital, Policlinico A. Gemelli, in Rome.

Francis was admitted to the hospital June 7 after holding his weekly general audience. Later that day, surgeons operated on an incisional hernia, which typically occurs as a consequence of previous operations, that had become increasingly painful.

NKorea missiles: North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters on Thursday, its neighbors said, in a resumption of weapons tests to protest just-ended South Korean-U.S. live-fire drills that it viewed as an invasion rehearsal.

The launches are the first by North Korea since it failed to put its first spy satellite into orbit in late May.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were launched from North Korea’s capital region and traveled about 480 miles before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. It called the launches “a grave provocation” and said South Korea’s military will maintain a firm readiness in close coordination with the United States.

South Asia cyclone: Cyclone Biparjoy made landfall on Thursday evening as a vast swath of western India and neighboring southern Pakistan braced for flash floods, heavy rain and high winds.

Authorities expect conditions to worsen for two or three days as Biparjoy was expected to reach wind speeds gusting up to 86 mph before slowing down in India’s Gujarat province.

In India’s Kutch district, near Jakhau port where the cyclone made landfall, authorities were expecting significant inundation. In Pakistan, Keti Bandar in the country’s flood-ravaged southern Sindh province, also lies in Biparjoy’s path.

Experts say climate change is leading to an increase in cyclones in the Arabian Sea region. Pakistan is among the top 10 countries most affected by climate change, although the country’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions is less than 1%.

Inheritance suspect dies: The Vermont man charged with killing his mother off the coast of New England on a 2016 fishing trip in a scheme to inherit millions of dollars has died in jail while awaiting trial, federal authorities said Thursday.

Nathan Carman, 29, pleaded not guilty last year to fraud and first-degree murder in the death of his mother, Linda Carman, and was scheduled to go on trial in October.

An eight-count indictment also says Carman shot and killed his wealthy grandfather John Chakalos as he slept in 2013, in order to obtain money and property from his grandfather’s estate. But the indictment does not charge Carman with his grandfather’s killing, and he had consistently denied any involvement in the two deaths.

The cause of Carman’s death was not immediately clear. He was the sole occupant of a county jail cell in New Hampshire when guards found him dead at around 2:30 a.m., said Doug Losue, superintendent of the Cheshire Corrections Department, which runs the facility.

Prosecutors said the deaths of Carman’s mother and grandfather paved the way for him to inherit an estimated $7 million — Linda Carman’s share of her father’s estate. That inheritance remains tied up in probate court in Connecticut.